Chained Hearts
by KitsuneSnow
Summary: "If he waits for the ideal moment, he will never set off; he requires a touch of madness to take the next step. The warrior uses that touch of madness. For - in both love and war - it is impossible to foresee everything." -Paulo Coelho To Itachi, she wasn't the most important person to him. She didn't need protecting. To him, she was his precious friend. The woman he loved most.


"Mama, where's Papa?"

"Mama?"

"Mama can I have a cookie?"

"Mama, who is that person?"

"Mama, what is that shiny thing?"

"Mama. Where do people go when they die?"

"Hey Mama can I have a baby brother too?"

"Mama? Are you ill?"

"Mama why did you and Papa leave?"

"Mama how did you do it?"

"Mama, why does this love hurt"

"Mama, am I wrong to feel this?"

"Mama, I'm scared." 

* * *

"Happy birthday baby!" The woman said cheerfully picking up her, now, three year old daughter and spinning her around in a tight hug. Her daughter squealed in laughter and wiggled free, running from the room into the kitchen. She looked behind her to see if she was being followed and paused when she didn't see her fiery haired mother in her apron. Screaming from fright when she was suddenly picked up from behind and thrown into the air and easily caught.

"You cant escape from me my little troublemaker." The girls mother set her daughter in the dining chair and placed the breakfast on the table just as the blond of the family walked into the room sleepy and slouched at the table opposite the wide eyed young girl. "Papa's tired." She stated like a fact more than asked. Minato nodded is head and yawned in response, he paused in his yawn as he felt a glare burning into his back and smirked mischievously "Your Mama wouldn't let me sleep last night". Minato slowly tilted his head to look at his spit fire wife clenching the spatula like a dagger and chuckled nervously at the dark look on her face. Then when he remembered. He smiled softly and turned to his fidgeting and slightly confused daughter.

"Happy birthday, Rina" Said girl burst into a dazzling grin and blushed "Thanks Papa!" the sight sent a warmth throughout him. The three ate breakfast talking about random topics and anything that could serve as entertainment with the food.

"Why don't you go play outside while Papa and I get your birthday present ready but be careful." Kushina ordered more than suggested.

Rina pouted but chose to comply instead of facing her mothers wrath. She headed towards the area where people were often training their skills in the ninja arts.

There's already four people there, she mused and her eyes drifted to the building to her left. That makes six people in the clearing all together. She felt proud of her math skills, she had been working very hard on her math and writing with her Papa. She arrived at the field and true to her math skills there were six people in the clearing. She watched the four visible ninja train in their own respective styles she numbered each ninja.

One was young for a ninja but still much older than her, he was throwing all sorts of weapons at the poor old beaten logs in the center of the field. She watched his movements from the way the shiny thing left his grip, to his balance and the way he stood. From her spot she mirrored his movements making notes on his previous attempts and what made the shiny object fly in different ways. After she felt her technique had improved in some way she shifted her focus to the others.

Two, the older lady she had numbered, was familiar. Rina had seen her here before and practiced the strange style with the friendly lady she didn't know the name of. She was moving in strange movements like before. It was like she was dancing in an alien dance that was slow, fluid and elegant. Two caught her eye and gestured Rina to come to her. They both started the odd dance much slower than the girl had watched before previously, they stopped and started multiple times as the older lady pointed out the flaws in her nervous clammy movements, she remembered the steps well enough from last time but she was very awkward in her transitions and steps, fumbling as expected from a new four year old. Two had assured her that as she got older she would become much better at it so long as she trained often. Rina waved Two goodbye as the older lady headed home and took a few moments to catch her breath and checked the others still in the field.

She shifted her attention to number Three, a boy around the same age as One, he was doing all sorts of kicks, punches, flips and spins while yelling things like "Haaa!", "Wacha!" and "Fissue". She just watched and filed to memory what worked and what didn't for future reference, her little body was too tired to attempt any of the wild movements. When she lost interest in the crazy yelling boy she moved her attention to the complete opposite.

Four, as she had previously numbered him, was much older than anyone in the field and he sat in the same spot as he was when she arrived, crossed legs and a hand on each knee. If she didn't know better she would have thought the man wasn't breathing. He felt strange to her, like he wasn't there but he was, everything in and around him was calm and almost mystical. She could feel the energy that flowed through him and as it became one with the air and earth, meditation was what her father called it. She shifted her sitting position to copy him and focused on her breathing to make it like Four's almost nonexistent and untraceable breaths. As she exhaled she closed her eyes and listened, she felt. She could feel the warm Konoha breeze, the late morning sun and the grass brushing her exposed legs. Time didn't exist for a short while, it felt like a trance.

She opened her eyes at the call of her name from behind her. She got up from her spot and ran to her Mother and Father who stood at the fields entrance. Rina paused at the look on her mothers face and waited for the scolding she was sure to get. "You know your not supposed to come to the training fields on your own Rina." Her mother said.

"Now, now Kushina. I'm sure she has a reason." Rina smiled, Papa to the rescue. "I'm not ever alone" Rina justified her misbehavior and her parents shared a confused and worried look, "How so?" Minato asked almost nervously. Rina's eyes flickered up into the tree that housed a familiar energy of the fifth in the field. she hesitated in her answer, she didn't want to get him in trouble for being noticed. "The birds are always singing, so I know that everything will be fine" She grinned at her cryptic and naive sentence which seemed to confuse her parents. "Do I still get cake?" Rina quickly changed the topic. 

"Happy birthday to you!" Minato and Kushina finished the song horribly as Kushina bought a freshly baked cake with three lit candles to the family table decorated in lots of pretty colors. Rina laughed and applauded to their performance. Minato and Kushina sat at the opposite side of the table. Rina shifted excitedly at the flickering candles just a breath away. The house smelled like cake and the cleaning stuff Kushina used around the house, she loved the smell of the odd combination.

"Go on, make a wish but be careful not to waste it" Her mother fussed, both Rina and Minato chuckled at her behavior "It's okay if she wastes a few wishes, she'll have plenty more to use" Minato reassured Kushina. Rina thought silently about her wish, as always her mother had a point. She didn't want to make a wish that was dumb or selfish and she didn't want to waste it, in fact she wanted to make many wishes so there was more of a chance that one of them would come true. She drummed her fingers on the table in thought, ignoring her debating parents. She had a thought and ceased her tapping fingers.

She took a controlled breath and sharply blew out one of the candles, "I wish to enter the academy."

She stated confidently and blew the second candle out, "I wish to make a best friend."

Was her next wish. She targeted the third candle, "I wish Papa will train me to be a ninja" and for the final candle she blew it out with unnecessary force "I wish to be an awesome ninja just like Mama and Papa!"

Her parents stared at her for a short while before Kushina burst into laughter and Minato scratched the back of his head "I'm not sure it works that way but it's definitely efficient" he said sheepishly with a chuckle. Kushina stood and took a photo with one of the small red haired girl and the 'Happy birthday 4' cake in front of her, then they all piled in front of the camera for a family photo with the brightest grins in the village.

The rest of the day was spent listening to stories of her parents adventures as young ninja. Her favorite stories were the ones when her Papa rescued Mama from some evil ninja that tried to kidnap her.

"Mama? Where's Papa?" The girl asked her scarlet haired mother between the spoons of cereal being shoved into her mouth. The table was quiet and the cool morning sent a chill to Rina's toes. "Papa has a mission with his team today, then he's busy training Obito-kun and Rin-chan for their Chunin exam. He wont be home till afternoon." She replied not needing to look up from the scroll she inked with the calligraphy brush. "Hm" Rina sounded.

Rina stared at her mother's work. It was mesmerizing to watch the harmony between the ink, charka and the strokes. It was like watching colors bleed together. Hypnotic almost. Rina slid out of her chair at the table, put the bowl on the kitchen counter and pulled out the chair next to her mother. Kushina paused in her work and looked to the young girl, "Ready to start your lessons for today?" Rina nodded "Yup."

"Right well since I already have everything out, lets start with Fuinjutsu." She leaned over to one of the scrolls and unraveled it to reveal nothing, a blank scroll. "I want you to take these scrolls and copy them as many times it takes to get them identical." Rina was handed a pile of scrolls, both blank and inked, that filled her small arms to the brink. "Yes, Mama." She waddled away focusing on not dropping any of the scrolls or walking into any of the walls, she reached the living room and lowered to the ground placing all of her materials beside the table, then going back to fetch some ink and a brush.

Rina sat beside the table the with the proper posture, set everything up on the table, then bowed to the table and she turned to the scrolls situated to the side bowing again. She returned to the table and proceeded to grab her brush and dipped it into the black ink. She analyzed the seal first, a storage seal meant for preserving objects. Not boringly easy but not all that challenging she concluded. Brush met paper, staining it in the targeted locations. She knew the basic foundations of sealing, Mama had started teaching her since she could write her name and understand its meaning. Every day for the last two years she had been learning how to channel her charka into her fingers then through the brush and into the ink, learning that seals were composed of kanji -death to kanji- and symbols that acted as a conductor for how the charka passed through each point, or command perhaps, from trigger to execution, the more difficult the seal is the more instructions the charka needed therefore more charka is needed to for the seal.

Each person had to find a way to work with the seals, each had their own visualization of how it flowed. Rina had asked her Mama how she had envisioned it, "To me, I see the flow of charka like a river and the seal is the path the river follows, my brush cuts a path for where I want it to go. The charka must first pass through each of the kanji in a specific order." is what her Mother explained, she hadn't understood it fully and asked her Papa too. "Its like turning on the light," He'd said "electricity travels in almost the same was through wires as charka does through Fuinjutsu." That left her just as confused.

Was it water?

Or electricity?

Neither, she decided. It, for her, was the same as music. Equal and fickle, she was merely the composer, the conductor. To her the seal was as arguably alive as a flame.

So day in and day out she copied the work of others and made it her own, it was never perfect. Never the same, she made it her own. 

Kushina locked the door of their home and took Rina by the hand leading her out into he bustling streets of the Konoha market. Rina looked at her Mama who was dressed nicely and carrying a small box in her other hand, she shifted her attention to her own appearance. She was wearing one of her better dresses and a black ribbon that tied her hair red locks behind her, it raised questions.

"Mama, Where are we going?" she asked innocently. "We are going to see an old friend of mine, we both have been so busy the only time we see each other is when we bump into each other while shopping so we made planed to meet up at her house today. She said she has some important news she wants to tell me." Kushina explained to her daughter, Kushina knew that if her daughter wasn't satisfied with her given answer Rina would then start asking bucket loads of questions, it was a new and irritating habit she had picked up somewhere. Kushina almost sighed in relief as her daughter only hummed in response and they continued through the market place and past a park and a few houses.

They arrive at a large traditional house. Kushina knocked and waited, when the door opened up to reveal a small boy who blinked at them in slight confusion, one Rina mirrored. "Oh hello Itachi, you've grown since I last saw you, I almost didn't recognize you. Is your mother home?" Kushina greeted him in a friendly tone.

"Itachi! How many times do we have to tell you not to answer the door unless you know who it is." A woman behind him scolded the boy. Itachi looked away from everyone who was looking at him and blushed, "Sorry Mother" he apologized.

"Mikoto!" Kushina greeted happily. Said woman turned and smiled politely, "Kushina, come on in. Oh and you too Rina, do you remember me?" Rina faintly remembered seeing the woman in the food store once, and spent the entire time wanting the two to hurry up and finish talking so she could go home and eat something. Rina only nodded her head in reply and took her shoes off as she entered the door, putting them neatly with the others.

Kushina placed the small box at the table in the neat dining room and sat at the dining room. Rina chugged back her orange juice Mikoto had given her as they all sat at the table, Itachi roped in too. Mikoto and Kushina chatted about trivial things until Mikoto turned to Itachi, "Why don't you and Rina go play together." Itachi thought for a moment and opened his mouth to reply but he was suddenly jerked in the direction of the exit and dragged off out of the dining room and down the hall.

Once they were safely out of the adults breathing space Rina relaxed and sight in relief, Itachi just watched the strange girl that had dragged him from the comfort of his mothers side. Rina glanced around nervously "I'm sorry" she apologized "I used you as an escape route, you don't have to play with me or anything, I can amuse myself" Somewhat nervous and somewhat polite, this was the first time she had ever talked with someone her own age.

She didn't want this boy to hate her, she wanted to be friends with him. She took this time to quickly analyze him, His black hiar fell to the top of his shoulders and parted at the center of his head framing his pretty inky eyes. Ink black. Itachi smiled gently, his mother raised him to be polite. "My name is Itachi Uchiha" He introduced himself. Rina grinned, his words were a sort of peace treaty "The name's Rina Namikaze!" 

/ 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Rina. I also do not own the Naruto plot in any way nor do I own any of the pictures I may use for this story, if I do I shall tell you so you can laugh at my horrid drawing.

Well here you have the first chapter of Chained Hearts. Thank you and apologies in advance, I an notoriously bad at frequent updating of any of my stories.

Thanks for giving my rewritten version a try, if there have been any spelling or grammar mistakes then I'd appreciate it if you would tell me. If you feel up to it drop a comment I will always reply.


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